Role for supplementary motor area cells in planning several movements ahead

To achieve a volitional goal, we need to execute multiple movements in a specific temporal order. After repetitive performance of a particular sequence of movements, we are able to memorize and execute the whole sequence without external guidance. Where and how in the brain do we store information necessary for the orderly performance of multiple movements? We have found a group of cells in the cerebral cortex of monkeys whose activity is exclusively related to a sequence of multiple movements performed in a particular order. Such cellular activity exists in the supplementary motor area1,2, but not in the primary motor cortex3,4. We propose that these cells contribute a signal about the order of forthcoming multiple movements, and are useful for planning and coding of several movements ahead.

[1]  J. Tanji,et al.  Neuronal activity in cortical motor areas related to ipsilateral, contralateral, and bilateral digit movements of the monkey. , 1988, Journal of neurophysiology.

[2]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Regional cerebral blood flow during voluntary arm and hand movements in human subjects. , 1991, Journal of neurophysiology.

[3]  J. Tanji,et al.  The role of premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area in the temporal control of movement in man. , 1993, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[4]  R. Porter,et al.  Corticospinal Function and Voluntary Movement , 1993 .

[5]  J C Rothwell,et al.  Simple and complex movements in a patient with infarction of the right supplementary motor area , 1986, Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society.

[6]  J. Tanji,et al.  Relation of neurons in the nonprimary motor cortex to bilateral hand movement , 1987, Nature.

[7]  B. Larsen,et al.  Activation of the supplementary motor area during voluntary movement in man suggests it works as a supramotor area. , 1979, Science.

[8]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Multiple representations of body movements in mesial area 6 and the adjacent cingulate cortex: An intracortical microstimulation study in the macaque monkey , 1991, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[9]  M. Inase,et al.  Neuronal activity in the primate premotor, supplementary, and precentral motor cortex during visually guided and internally determined sequential movements. , 1991, Journal of neurophysiology.

[10]  G E Alexander,et al.  Movement-related neuronal activity selectively coding either direction or muscle pattern in three motor areas of the monkey. , 1990, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  J. Tanji.  The supplementary motor area in the cerebral cortex , 1994, Neuroscience Research.

[12]  C. Brinkman.  Supplementary motor area of the monkey's cerebral cortex: short- and long-term deficits after unilateral ablation and the effects of subsequent callosal section , 1984, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[13]  J. Talairach,et al.  Clinical consequences of corticectomies involving the supplementary motor area in man , 1977, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[14]  R. Passingham.  The frontal lobes and voluntary action , 1993 .

[15]  J Tanji,et al.  Comparison of movement-related activity in two cortical motor areas of primates. , 1982, Journal of neurophysiology.

[16]  M Wiesendanger,et al.  Recent developments in studies of the supplementary motor area of primates. , 1986, Reviews of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology.

[17]  J. Tanji,et al.  Contrasting neuronal activity in supplementary and precentral motor cortex of monkeys. I. Responses to instructions determining motor responses to forthcoming signals of different modalities. , 1985, Journal of neurophysiology.

[18]  H. Lüders,et al.  Movement-related potentials recorded from supplementary motor area and primary motor area. Role of supplementary motor area in voluntary movements. , 1992, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[19]  J. Tanji,et al.  A motor area rostral to the supplementary motor area (presupplementary motor area) in the monkey: neuronal activity during a learned motor task. , 1992, Journal of neurophysiology.

[20]  B. Hyland,et al.  Comparison of neural activity in the supplementary motor area and in the primary motor cortex in monkeys. , 1991, Somatosensory & motor research.

[21]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Activation of precentral and mesial motor areas during the execution of elementary proximal and distal arm movements: a PET study. , 1993, Neuroreport.

[22]  C. Brinkman,et al.  Supplementary motor area in the monkey: activity of neurons during performance of a learned motor task. , 1979, Journal of neurophysiology.

[23]  P. Roland,et al.  Supplementary motor area and other cortical areas in organization of voluntary movements in man. , 1980, Journal of neurophysiology.